Robin van Persie did not deserve Arsenal jeers

Not all Arsenal fans should feel ashamed with themselves, but the ones that should are those who took it upon themselves to jeer and boo their ex-captain Robin van Persie on his return to the Emirates Stadium as a Manchester United player.

Van Persie joined Arsenal in the 2004/05 season. In his eight seasons with the club, the Dutchman has seen a host of high-profile players leave the club. If he left because he had no faith in the manager or in the club, he would have left way before he hit 29-years-old, but he did not.

In his Arsenal career, he has watched the following players leave his club and, as a result, weakening the club while he soldiered on: Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole, Jose Reyes, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Samir Nasri, Cesc Fábregas, and Gaël Clichy.

This is short list of player who have walked out of Arsenal while Van Persie was in the club. The final blow would have come when Nasri, Fabregas and Clichy were all sold in the same season.

All the players listed were, at one point of time, considered world-class players or top-class players. Having witnessed your team lose so many stars over the seasons, especially their captains, it would definitely have been a morale dampener for any player remaining in the Gunners' dressing room.

The team's lack of ability to retain their best talent and challenge for silverware was probably what pushed the Dutchman out the door. Fans cannot hide behind the reasoning that he moved for money, which has been proven wrong as he snubbed a £300,000 per-week offer from Manchester City - opting to join Manchester United in his personal quest for trophies.

In all his years at Arsenal, he only has an FA Cup and Community Shield award to show. One major award for a world-class player who had contributed a total of 37 goals for Arsenal on his final season, only for them to not win anything. His last season was by far his best in terms of his goal tally, and fans cannot criticise him for any lack of dedication and drive to win. You cannot blame a man for leaving after trying so hard for his team which failed to yield results.

The man has given everything he had for Arsenal, but to no avail. His move to United was purely motivated on one factor and that was to win trophies, and he has been duly rewarded with his first Premier League crown and possibly a Golden Boot at the end of the season.

Fans cannot blame him for moving because, at the end of his career when he looks back at his achievements, as a person and as a player what will he have to show for if he had stayed on as a Gunner? Based on his time at the club, perhaps one more cup trophy but that's about it.

To top it off, even after receiving an endless number of boos and abuse from the home crowd at the Emirates, he did not care for celebration after his goal.

He kept his head down and continued with the game and continued to get booed. If Arsenal fans are unable to recognise the contributions he has made for the club and understand his decision to move, they should very well be ashamed of themselves.

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DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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